Woman fatally shot in Parkville while loading son into car

Police responded Dalton Road in Parkville and found a woman dead from a single gunshot wound. Detectives were going door-to-door in the neighborhood working to determine a motive for the shooting. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun video)

Police responded Dalton Road in Parkville and found a woman dead from a single gunshot wound. Detectives were going door-to-door in the neighborhood working to determine a motive for the shooting. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun video)

Kevin Rector, The Baltimore Sun

On a normally quiet street in Parkville on Tuesday morning, 28-year-old Victoria Vernetta Glover was loading her 3-year-old son into a car after leaving her home on the block when someone approached her with a shotgun and opened fire, Baltimore County police say.

Glover, shot at least once in the upper body, was found dead when police responded to the scene in the 1300 block of Dalton Road about 8:46 a.m., police said. The boy was located unharmed.

Multiple shell casings would soon be found on the street as more than 20 officers, detectives and other police personnel began scouring the block for evidence, said Cpl. John Wachter, a police spokesman.

An investigation into what caused the violence is underway as police pursue tips from the neighborhood that a vehicle of an unknown make and model sped from the scene shortly after the shots were fired, Wachter said.

"It doesn't appear at this point that it was a random act of violence," Wachter said. Police declined to say whether they were looking for a specific suspect. They are continuing to work to determine a motive, he said.

Glover had several traffic violations but no criminal record in Maryland, according to court records. She was also in the midst of a divorce. Glover's husband, Cory Bowman, 38, could not be reached for comment. He hasn't been responsive to the divorce filings; a default order was granted to Glover in the case on Aug. 1.

Bowman also did not appear in Circuit Court in Towson for an unrelated trial Tuesday morning on charges of second-degree assault, possession of a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon with intent to injure.

Jennifer Aist, a supervisor in the public defender's office, said Bowman's bail was revoked for his failure to appear. Court records indicate that a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The charges relate to an incident in February. Records in the case were not available at the court Tuesday afternoon, and police declined to provide charging documents in Bowman's arrest.

Bowman has a criminal record, including battery and drug distribution.

As neighbors watched Tuesday morning, detectives and officers surrounded a car on the street with a gray tarp, and crime scene investigators looked over the vehicle. Yellow tape was strung up around a large section of the block.

A man and woman on the street who identified themselves as family members of Glover's declined to comment before being escorted to a home behind the tape by police. Detectives walked door to door in the neighborhood to gather information as others worked from a mobile crime laboratory parked on the street.

Wachter said he did not know where Glover's son was taken after being found by police, but that he "is safe."

Barbara McAllister, who represents 742 homes in the area as president of the Hillendale Improvement Association, also arrived on the scene to see if she could be of assistance. McAllister said in her 18 years in the neighborhood, Tuesday's shooting was the most severe incident of crime she could remember.

"It's really, really sad that this is happening so close to home. Ordinarily this is a peaceful area," she said. "I wish I could ease the family's and the residents' pain, because now they're going to be on super-alert."

"I think it's kind of isolated, but it's sad," said neighbor Cindy Dorsey, who has lived in the neighborhood for eight years.

"It's shocking, surprising … because we have never experienced anything like this around here," said Des Thomas, another neighbor.